We are stardust, we are golden We are billion year old carbon And we got to get ourselves back to the garden — “Woodstock” (Joni Mitchell) It’s been said that, “If you…
Rude Interruptions
Back in 1986, when it was still both smart and impertinent, The New Republic (TNR) magazine—inspired by that notoriously soporific New York Times headline—playfully invited its readers to submit their own competing…
The late Art Kunkin, who recently died at the age of 91, was much more than just the founder-publisher of the Los Angeles Free Press, one of the nation’s oldest, most influential,…
Remember when hell on earth was Bill Murray’s weatherman waking up every morning to Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You, Babe,” knowing that he’s doomed to endlessly relive the same snowed-in Punxsutawney…
After laying my mother to rest last month, my wife Hope and I were eager for a much-needed break on a long-planned trip to the East Coast. Her work had carried us…
The End of the Game Over the three years that I’ve been writing this column, my 92-year-old mom Jeanne and I have developed a familiar ritual. Every two weeks or so, I’d…
“What are you writing about?” my son asked, when I mentioned I had a column deadline coming up. “I’m not sure,” I answered. “I think I may write about impeachment.” “Really! Jumping…
As I write this, L.A. County has just sworn in Alex Villanueva as our new sheriff. Jimmy, we hardly knew ye. And Alex, we don’t know ye at all. To call it…
As I write, it’s the morning after. But as you read this, more than a week will have passed, so my comments will fall somewhere between a hot take and cold leftovers.…
“Elections have consequences,” a friend of mine likes to say. “Well, duh,” I like to say. After the recent Brett Kavanaugh debacle—as if Donald Trump’s upset in 2016 wasn’t enough—you’d think we…